Statistics about International Students in UK

The dawn of the twenty first century has brought its own culture and institutions. The technological development and revolution in cyber world have created a new culture of its own. The communicational revolution and the modernized ways of transportation have changed the world which has now become a global village with an even broader spectrum of interconnectedness. It far easier to travel than it used to be in the previous time. This has revolutionized and changed the institution of education too. Flocks of students from one part of the world go to another in order to get qualitative and higher education.

Trinity College, Oxford

Hundreds and thousands of students go to the United Kingdom every year in order to get higher education. According to UK Council for International Students Affairs (UKCISA), there are around 425,265 foreign students during the academic year 2012-2013 which is a decrease of approximately 2% as compared with 435,230 students in 2011-2012. Students come from the English regions as well as from the countries in European Union, in addition to the cross continental students. Germany tops in having the highest number of students 15,985 among the EU countries with Republic of Ireland as second in having 15,075 students belonging to it. France is on third in the list of EU countries with 12,835 French students studying in the UK while Greece is on Fourth with 11,790 students from Greece getting education in the universities of UK. Cyprus, Poland, Italy and Spain are among other EU countries whose students are studying in the UK with the numbers go high as 11,620, 6,295, 8,010, 5,935 respectively.

Among the non-EU countries, China tops the list in having the highest number of Chinese students i.e. 78,715 who are studying in the United Kingdom with 19.8% of the total foreign students. India has the second highest number i.e. 29,900 among the international students who are studying in UK covering up to 5.3% of the total foreign students. A bit surprise, but Nigeria stands as the third in having 17,620 of the total foreign students in UK. United States is behind Nigeria in having 16,335 of its students studying in UK whereas Malaysia has 14,545 of the total foreign students in the United Kingdom. Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan are among other non-EU countries having considerable number of students i.e. 11,335, 9,860 and 8,820 respectively. However, the number of these international students also varies in different English regions. According to UKCISA, Scotland hosts the highest number of international students in UK with 22% of the total students from overseas. Wales hosts 19%, England 18% and the Northern Ireland hosts 12% of the total international students in the United Kingdom during the academic year 2012-2013.

To conclude, United Kingdom gets a huge amount of annual economic gain from these overseas students and their associates who have a considerable contribution into the UK economy. The current visa problems and strict visa policies have hampered the numbers of these students this year which is reduced by 2%. There is a need to revision of such policies which need to be replaced by some lenient visa rules and a better welcoming environment for the international students.